Oil Prices Fall Beyond 5% as US Crude Stocks Hit Records
& COVID-19 Cases Soar
25 June
2020
Oil prices fell more than 5% above $ 2.0 on Wednesday as the
American stock of crude oil registered new record levels as well as
coronavirus infections soars again in some high density American States
and other countries like Germany. The United States recorded the second
increase in coronavirus infections since the beginning of the pandemic
while increase in coronavirus cases trended up again in other regions
like China, Latin America and India triggering investors’ worries and
weighing more on prices.
Brent crude settled at $ 40.31 a barrel, falling $ 2.32, 5.4%,
although it registered record high levels on Tuesday since the beginning
of the pandemic and price war between Russia and Saudi early March.
US WTX intermediate Crude settled at $ 38.01 a barrel, declining $
2.36 (5.8%) per barrel.
Priced were also impacted by the rise of the dollar high exchange
rate which normally moves inversely to oil prices and stock markets.
US inventory of crude oil increased 1.4 million barrel last week
exceeding analysts’ forecasts in a questionnaire conducted by Reuters,
increasing by 299k barrel beyond expectations as stated by Energy
Information Administration.